Ramapo Couple Face Forgery Charge For Allegedly Tricking Elderly Woman Into Signing Home Sale Agreement, Despite Earlier Civil Suit Upholding Contract

In New City, New York, The Journal News reports:

• An indictment unsealed last week charged [Michael and Chaya Goldstein] with the felonies of second-degree attempted grand larceny, forgery and criminal possession of a forged instrument.

• [75 year old homeowner Venera] Held has insisted that Michael Goldstein, 32, tricked her into signing a contract to sell a house [...] during a July 4, 2003, meeting in a Monsey bagel shop.

• [In an earlier civil suit between Held and the Goldsteins,] State Supreme Court Justice Alfred Weiner upheld the contract after a nonjury trial, and his decision has been supported by an appeals court that felt Weiner was in a better position to determine the veracity of the testimony.

• [Executive Assistant District Attorney Gary Lee] Heavner said the prosecution was not concerned with the civil litigation, but rather with the seriousness of the felony charges that a grand jury lodged against the Goldsteins.

For more, see Order of protection denied in Ramapo house dispute.

An earlier story on this case reports that the charges could grow against Michael Goldstein as the District Attorney's Office continues to investigate his real estate dealings. According to Executive Assistant DA Heavner, there is an ongoing probe into the facts in this indictment as well as other similar cases involving Goldstein.

For that story, see Ramapo couple face forgery charges in house sale. DeedTheftAlpha ForgeryGenuineSignatureKappa